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Originally Posted by The Professor
Thanks for this. Missed the game, and came here hoping to read a bunch of discussion on Jankowski. Good or bad. Any differing opinions out there? A rookie being over 50% in the dot is impressive.
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I thought he was very tentative in the offensive zone. Wasn't exactly sure where to go and what to expect. Not surprised given it was his first NHL game.
Defensively however I thought he did really well. He had good stick positioning, forced guys to the outside and generally played a steady game that didn't give up chances. What really stood out for me though was in the third, I don't remember if it was tied yet or not, and he had a defensive draw against Taveres (who was generally owning the dot most of the night) and won it cleanly back and let the play get out of the zone. Calm and cool and didn't let the game rattle him.
Solid night for the rookie, a few practices with the big team and I think his play in the O zone will improve. Deserves a couple more games in my opinion.
On another note I am starting to think that Ferland's game has been really helped by the emergence of Tkachuk. I think the success Tkachuk has found has really engaged Ferland and shown him how to effectively use his size and play a power forward role. He isn't the pest that Tkachuk is and throws a better check but I find Ferland is a lot more willing to shoot from anywhere, get engaged and drive hard for the puck. Ferland-Bennett-Tkachuk could give opponents nightmares in a year or two.